


To be Bound

by NebulaEyes



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: 6000 Years of Pining (Good Omens), Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Aziraphale and Crowley Met Before The Fall (Good Omens), Crowley Was Raphael Before Falling (Good Omens), First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, God Ships Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Hurt Crowley, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Ineffable Idiots (Good Omens), Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Memory Loss, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Aziraphale (Good Omens), POV Crowley (Good Omens), Pining, Protective Crowley (Good Omens), Romantic Fluff, Romantic Soulmates, Scars, Soulmates, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 01:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20538266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NebulaEyes/pseuds/NebulaEyes
Summary: Aziraphale and Crowley knew each other before the fall. They were something special in Heaven. However, when Crowley fell, Aziraphale lost his memories of what they were and what they had. Now starting with him anew, Crowley had learned to create a new bond with him, but will Aziraphale ever remember? If he does, how will he react? How will GOD react? What happened to them after the Apocanope? Oh, and how is Aziraphale's ring involved!?





	1. Chapter 1

I was walking along the halls of Heaven when I was stopped by Gabriel, who was rushing towards me with an excited look on his face, his eyes shining with joy the color of violet, his long wavy silver hair flowing behind him as his lavender robe was struggling to keep up with him and his lilac colored wings. "Brother! Brother!"

I chuckled as he slowed down to stand in front of me. "What is it, Gabriel?"

"The new principalities have arrived! We should go meet them! They're younger than us, but their a station above us! Oh, perhaps we can learn something from them!"

I shook my head with a fond smiled as another chuckle left me. "Always eager to learn, Gabriel. I remember when I first told you that the angel you were speaking so fondly with was a principality and you turned as white as the walls of heaven. Then, you profusely apologized to her for being so forward. Honestly, Gabriel. It was then that I had to give you the talk about being grace bound to another angel. You were such an embarrassed little thing."

He crossed his arms with a "Hmph!", giving me a defiant expression, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, that was worth it. Come now...let's go meet your grace bound's new friends. What was your grace bound's name again?" I asked as I followed him towards the new principalities.

"Beelza." He breathed out with a slight swoon in his tone. "Oh, she's so beautiful! I'm fortunate God saw fit to have her as my Grace Bound mate. She's witty, determined, strong, stubborn, beautiful, methodical, talented, and oh! Her smile! It can-"

"-It can light up a room like God's Holy Light itself." I smirked as I walked up to his side, and I could feel him rolling his eyes. "Yes, you've only been saying it for two hundred years. I know very well what you think of her."

"Hey, don't be jealous just because you don't have a Grace Bound mate."

I shrugged as I shook my head. "I don't have one yet, because it was God's decision. If I was worthy of having one, I would have one. Someday I might, who know? However, as I don't have one yet, I must assume God has a different plan for me until I DO have one. I already have the task I am set to do in a thousand years when she is to call light into the infinite nothing."

"Hmm..." I heard the sadness in his voice, causing me to let out an irritated sigh.

"What is it now, Gabriel?"

"Well, it's just...I feel bad for you."

"Why's that?" I asked with a quirked brow.

"Well, having a Grace Bound mate is a wonderful thing. It's...well...it's Ineffable really. I can't put it to words. It's beyond my understanding, but...oh...it's wonderful. We understand each other, and sometimes we don't even need words! I just...I wish that you had that." Just as I was about to say I'm fine with not having that, because to want more than what I have would be greedy, and that's bad, he then chose that moment to swiftly move in front of me with an overjoyed expression. "Perhaps!" He started as he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Perhaps you'll meet them when we meet the other new Principalities!"

I smiled as I let out a sigh through my nose in defeat. "Very well, perhaps I'll meet them there. Oh, perhaps we should go visit the Seraphs!"

He rolled his eyes at me with a fond smile of his own as he lowered his hands. "You know, you're the only angel ever, that has EVER asked for a demotion!"

"I didn't belong with the Seraphs, brother. You know that."

"Yes...they were too orderly for you, and the Cherubim aren't much better."

"Exactly. Down here, with the Principalities, Archangels, and normal angels, I can be as creative and imaginative as I want! I'm also free to roam around, and let me tell you, the robes are much more comfortable!"

"I'll have to take your word for it." He grinned as he turned around, but then his eyes widened. "Oh! We're here!"

"I was wondering when you'd notice. Let's enter, shall we?"

"Yes, let's." He nodded his head, opening the door to the Principalities area, which was an infinite and glorious garden. I would often come here just to enjoy the garden and the many trees that would tower over me if I chose to walk along the smooth and cool grass.

"Gabriel!" I heard Beelza shout with wonder and excitement as she left the rose she was tending to. Her short black hair bouncing with her every step, her dark brown eyes shining with joy, and her pale face shimmering in the light that shone in the garden as she threw herself into Gabriel's arms. "What brings you here?" She asked once she left his embrace, then she looked at me. "Oh! You're here too!"

"Yup." I nodded my head respectfully at her. "In truth, he dragged me here. He wants to see the new principalities. Perhaps learn some more from them."

"Oh!" Gabriel groaned. "Did you HAVE to tell her that?"

Beelza gave him a confident and knowing smirk as she crossed her arms at him, causing me to smirk victoriously. "Oh, is that so?" She asked him. "You could learn a lot from me, you know!"

"Y-Yes, I know that, but..." He looked at me with desperation in his eyes. "...help me out here, brother."

I shook my head, chuckling lightly as I walked away towards the obviously new Principalities. "You're on your own, Gabriel." I gave him a wave, and made my way through the garden, tucking my wings out of sight.

As I was admiring the large trees towering over me, I was toppled over onto my back by someone who was clearly running. "Oof!" I heard him say as we both landed. "I-I'm so sorry." He chuckled out as he got off me.

"It's fine, why the rush?" I asked as I sat up at the same time as him, and started to get up to stand, noticing him doing the same.

"Oh! I'm new! Just out of training! I'm a new Principality! I was told about the garden we would live in, but it's far more beautiful than I could ever imagine!" There was such awe and wonder in his voice, I had to look up to see what kind of expression it was, but as soon as I looked into his eyes that seemed to shine with every shade of blue and green, I fell to my knees once again and so did he.

I brought a hand to my chest, feeling as if I was being engulfed in Holy Light and Love, my entire being singing with pure unbidden joy. My body felt warm and cold at the same time as I couldn't stop the new type of smile that appeared on my face. Every fiber of my being singing and rejoicing with a sense of belonging. As I stared at him, I realized he was holding a hand to his chest as well, but tears were falling from his eyes, causing a sharp violent pang of 'NO!' shooting through my spine. I gently brought my hands to his face, using my thumbs to gently wipe away his tears. "Wh-What are these for? Wh-What just h-happened?"

He brought the hand that was gripping his robe at his chest, and placed it gently on my right hand, giving me a smile of joyful disbelief. I didn't know such an emotion was possible, but apparently it was. "I...I think...um...I know..." The tears started falling once more, but now instead of the dumbfounded expression he wore before, he was smiling widely, his eyes shimmering through the tears, taking my breath away even further. "...I know it's not something t-to um...joke...about, but I...I think we are um...I think I just found..." He swallowed thickly before letting out a nervous laugh. "I think you're m-my Grace Bound mate."

Once he said it, I could've sworn my grace exploded with every emotion that was ever invented and a few new ones. None of them were negative. All positive emotions, but it took what little breath I had left. "What?" I asked as my eyes widened at him. However, when I asked that, a look of fear crossed his eyes, and he slowly let go of my hand. It ached when he looked at me like that, and it was because of me! Not able to stand that look for another second, I quickly grabbed his hand and put it to my chest. "You misunderstand! I'm not upset! I'm not disappointed! I..." My eyes widened as I spoke, because I realized that with just one expression, I knew the millions of feelings rushing through his mind. I knew how he felt without him having to say anything. "...I just...I'm many many many centuries older than you, and I hadn't found my Grace Bound mate...u-until now, because...quite frankly...I had never felt anything for another angel the way I felt for you when I looked in your eyes. I'm not upset, I'm just...shocked, astonished, and...well...kind of in a state of disbelief."

"W-Wait...you're...how old?"

"I...um..." A spike of nervousness rushed through me, and I could tell he sensed it once his eyes widened. "L-Let's take a walk through the garden, shall we?" He nodded his head with a small smile, getting up before me, and then he held his hand out to me. When I took it, I felt a delightful warmth come from his smooth hand, entering into mine, rushing through my arm, circling around my spin, and then eventually settled into my grace, all within the blink of an eye. I allowed him to help me up and we started walking side by side, but not hand in hand. "I um...I'm different from the rest."

"From the rest...of who?" He questioned curiously.

"Everyone." I answered simply. "I...I was once a S-Seraph and..." Before I could finish my sentence, he stopped dead in his tracks. I turned around and noticed how impossibly wide his eyes were, how his jaw was dropped, and how he quickly closed it to swallow what I assumed was a shocked and nervous lump in his throat. "What's wrong?"

"Y-You're...a...a...S-Seraphim!? M-My Grace Bound mate i-is a-"

I shook my head as I gently placed my hands on his shoulders, giving him a soft reassuring smile, or at least attempting to. "WAS...a Seraphim. I asked God to demote me, and She did. I'm now an Archangel. I was too different from them in my own opinion and I wanted more room to walk around, to fly around, to create, to imagine, to do what I want within reason. Everything as a Seraphim, or well, as the others would've wanted it, was just all so orderly, strict, and nothing was out of place. Any angel around here would likely give their left wing for that job, but I wanted to be somewhere else, because of how different She made me. However, She also stated that She made all of us unique in our own ways. Either way, I'm an Archangel. I'm below your station."

"Oh! Well, isn't that odd!"

"I know." I sighed out.

"No..." He chuckled lightly. "...now you're the one that's misunderstanding. I'm not ridiculing you, judging you, or think any less of you."

I grinned at him, my muscles relaxing some at his words. "Then what?" I asked, grateful for the bond we share with each other due to us being Grace Bound mates.

"I was a Cherubim." He grinned brightly, and I swear, I was going to have to get my breath under control! It kept wanting to run away when he smiled!

Then, I realized what he said, and I quickly shook my head with a furrowed brow. "Then...why would you want to leave? I mean, it was a rank below mine, and the others wouldn't let me roam anywhere but with other Seraphs, and I mean, that explains your softness and shape but..."

He shrugged, starting to walk once more, so I followed until I was by his side, walking with him through the garden. "Almost the same reasons as you, buy also slightly different. I wanted to do things for others, and I wanted to be able to be able to roam as well. I was different from them. I was far to eager for more knowledge in their opinion. I was always reading, and would often be found writing every now and then. They also noticed how much I enjoyed flying, while they patiently waited on whatever God wanted. I love God, I do, but I wanted something...different. I'm not sure if I've found it quite yet, but I'm sure I'll find it with you. Us two who are different from our original stations. Us two who have asked for demotions. Perhaps we'll be great together."

I took his hand in mine and kissed the middle groove of his knuckles, grinning at his blush. "I think we already are."

"Q-Quite right." He stuttered out just before taking my hand that was holding his, and proceeded to repeat my own action. "Well, let's see what the future may bring for us, shall we?"

"Yes, let's." I grinned as my grace continued to sing and thrum joyously from just being near him. I could feel the love radiating off of him, and it was for me. Oh, I could bask in it forever and never do another thing until my grace withers into absolutely nothing if I was allowed. "So, a former Cherub and a former Seraph...I was above you in rank, and now I'm below you. My...this could be quite interesting. Does anyone else know that you asked to be demoted?"

"No." He shook his head with a proud grin. "You're the first one I've told. Does anyone know you asked to be demoted?"

"Uh, yeah, my brothers and sisters. I'm the oldest among them, so they don't bother me about it. Wait, I might not be as much older than you. I thought that since you were a Principality, but..."

He nodded his head knowingly, "I was created two millennia ago."

"Ah! Same here. Exactly."

"To the day...today?" He asked with a slight shake of his head, stopping to give me a sideways glance with a furrowed brow.

"A-Actually..." I stuttered out. "...yeah. To the day today. I'm two thousand years old today."

"My, isn't that something." He whispered out, but just as we were about to reach the Daisies in the Garden, we heard footsteps right behind us.

I turned around and saw that Gabriel was walking towards us. "Well, what have we here?" Gabriel questioned as he looked at Aziraphale with a curious glance. "You certainly don't LOOK like a Principality."

"Gabriel..." I grinned at Gabriel joyfully as I took my Principality's hand. "...I've found my Grace Bound mate."

"Him?" He asked, and his tone seemed a bit harsh, but I kept the smile on my face, giving my Principality's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yes. I...you were right. Ineffable. As soon as I saw his eyes and he saw mine...we both reacted."

"Yup." He chuckled light, shaking his head mirthfully. "You've definitely found your Grace Bound mate. I'm happy for you." I could hear the honesty in his tone, but I also sensed him judging my Principality for some reason. I mentally shook my head to push the negativity away. "I suppose you'll want to stay in the garden for a little while longer then?"

"Yes. I'll meet up with you later, Gabriel." I watched him walk away with a dry smile that unnerved me for some reason.

Once he was out of sight, I looked to my Principality and let out a relieved sigh. "Well, now that the Archangel Gabriel isn't here, do you mind telling me your name?"

"Oh! How rude of me! I forgot! Yes..." He quickly nodded his head, a delightful blush tinging his cheeks. "My name is Aziraphale, and your name?"

"Raphael."


	2. Chapter 2

"God! What's happening!?" I pleaded as blue fire filled my line of sight, it's roar deafening in my ears as it swallowed feather after feather from angel after angel no matter what rank. "Why are they fighting!?" I flew faster and harder than I ever have before as I heard the screams of everyone around me. Some screams of agony, and others...screams of victory with every angel that was cut down. "Why are you letting this happen!?" I knew. I knew with every fiber of my being that I shouldn't question. That there would be a consequence to questioning, but I didn't know what that consequence was, and at the moment, I didn't care. I kept asking as I desperately made my way to Eden where Aziraphale was stationed. Humans were to be created soon, and he was to guard the Eastern Gate of Eden to protect them. As he did that, I was to Guard and Protect the humans themselves as well as Heal them and guide them. "God! Why didn't you just stop Lucifer!?"

Once I saw Aziraphale, I quickly landed next to him, and I felt something prick my grace in a way it never had before. I watched him looking up to the sky, tears falling from his eyes as he looked around at the angels above us, their seared and bloody feathers falling like nothing I had ever seen before. "Raphael! It's horrible! Why is God letting this happen? Why won't She stop it!"

"I-I don't know..." I shook my head frantically before placing my hands on his shoulders to get him to look at me. I then heard and felt a resounding thump coming from my chest, but I didn't let on that I did. I didn't know what was happening to my grace, but it wasn't good, and it was likely due to my questions. "...just..." My gaze slid to my right pinky finger and I quickly took it off to place it on his right pinky finger.

"Raphael!? No! That's your golden mark! Your mark as an Archangel and a creator of the stars! I can't take that!"

"You can and you will!" I took his hand and placed my lips to the ring, silently placing a little of my grace into the ring. Not enough to go noticed by anyone but God or myself, but enough for me to at least know where he's at. "S-Something's happening to me. I think...I think I asked too many questions, a-and when I spent time with Samael...who...is now named Lucifer..." It was getting harder to speak, stand, and see. I felt my body changing and I felt my grace worsening. "...When I spent time with him, to try and get him to stop defying God...I think...I wasn't supposed to."

"R-Raphael...you're worrying me." His voice trembled, and it sounded like the most fragile of glass. Any higher of a tone or pitch, or even any lower and it would shatter to millions of pieces.

"Please! No matter what! Don't ever take this ring off! It's a piece of me that I am giving to you. Do you understand?" Tears continued to spill down his eyes as he slowly nodded. "Good, now, I don't know exactly what will ha-" Before I could finish my sentence, Lucifer grabbed my wing and flung me to the ground of Eden, causing a burning, stinging, and horrid pain to radiate from my back. When I landed, I realized that it wasn't just from him yanking on my wing, no, he ripped my wing off without any mercy.

"You DARE say that I shouldn't question God, but I hear you in the battlefield questioning God quite vehemently!" I felt his sword dig into my back, running down my spine, creating a harsh open wound as well as a burn. I then felt him rip two more wings off, leaving me with three. Two at my shoulder blades, one for each, and one just below the left. "You who was so different from the other Archangels! You who became the favorite! You who created the stars and helped to create the sun and was ALLOWED to advise and question God! Well! No more! You die this day!" He slowly ripped as well as cut my middle wing off at the base. It was so painful, I couldn't adequately scream to voice the scorching, searing, ripping, and sharp pain it caused me. "There!" I barely heard him cackle. Everything soon became muffled and started to echo. I turned to look at him, wincing heavily at the fresh pain on my back. "Reduced to a normal angel! How fitting! I heard you and Gabriel discussing it one day, you know. You were once a Seraph! HA! And you WANTED to be demoted, well, consider this your demotion! You will die here just as I've watched other angels of various different ranks die by my sword who did not wish to join me. Those who ridiculed me and tried to stop me! I've watched their grace leave their eyes, just as your's is doing now. Now, I'm off to find your Grace Bound mate and allow him to share in your same fate!"

With fresh hot rage erupting in me, past the pain, past the burning, past the scorching, and past the loss of my wings that I felt deep within my grace. I pulled his bottom right wing off just as he did me, causing him to collapse on the ground. "YOU!" I growled out, my voicing echoing throughout Eden, and I could hear the plants around us trembling with fright as they either bowed to my voice or coward away from it. My voice also caused other angels to stop, because it wasn't the voice of an Archangel, it was the voice of a Seraphim. "WILL NOT!" I ripped off his bottom left wing, using my power to keep him still no matter how much I could hear his grace struggle against me. He wasn't going to move. "HARM!" I allowed my finger nails to grow claws as sharp as his sword as I slashed his right middle wing off. "HIM!" I finally slashed the left one off, the blood staining my hands as his wings fell to the ground atop mine. I then reached into my power and placed one hand over his back where his grace would be inside of him while my claws retracted on the other hand so I could place that one on his top wings. I started to alter his form. Red. I decided. His skin should be as red as the aura of hatred and fury and wrath that shimmered immensely in his aura. Nails, as black as ebony, and eyes to match COMPLETELY, to go with the blackness of his grace where his love for God and for anything but himself had completely vanished. Claws, to remind him that I created claws for myself to rip off his wings. His ears, pointed and much larger so he can listen to all no matter what. His crown of jewels he was given just as all Archangels were, would now be a crown of horns, and finally, his wings, to remain as two, but devoid of feathers or divinity. His body grew with my holding on tight, his body grew so that he would never be mistakable, and he could never hide. Once he stopped growing as I was holding onto his right wing, I whispered into his ear, "I will protect him until the end of time and beyond! Death will not stop me from protecting him! Even if you were to successfully kill me completely, I will always be with him. I've made sure of that! I vow that I will be by his side no matter what, and not you, nor your followers, and dare I say, not even GOD could keep me from protecting him! I will defy any who seek to harm him! That's more than a promise, it's a vow!" Losing the final remains of my strength, my arms loosened, and my eyes fluttered closed. I barely heard God's booming voice, and it sounded so sad, hurt, angry, and disappointed. _'I-I'm sorry...God! Just...allow me to protect him. He can forget about me and everything I know he just saw, because I saw him watch in terror as Lucifer ripped my wings and then when I ripped off Lucifer's wings...just...let me protect him through that ring. Don't let him take it off. That's...all...I...ask...'_

I looked up at Aziraphale as I noticed him flying towards me, and I found it funny in my last moments that I barely heard God, but I could hear Aziraphale crystal clear. "NO!" I watched him get grabbed by Gabriel, who was also crying. Likely because he ALSO watched everything that just happened.

"Aziraphale! No! He's gone! He's dead! All angels who have crossed Lucifer in battle have died! He's gone! I'm s-sorry! He's dead! He...we have to go! God wants us back in Heaven."

"NO!" I heard him scream desperately, and I could hear the tears on his face. Not sure how, but I could. I then felt something in my grace even as it faded faster and faster, I could feel where he was at, and I could sense his grace was troubled. I could also sense the amount it was troubled, and with that, I was able to close my eyes, and let go of the rest of my grace, knowing that it worked. A piece of my grace was sealed into the ring, and now formed with his grace, going completely unnoticed by everyone.

To my astonishment, I awoke in my room and my head was resting in someone's lap. That someone was also carding their fingers through my hair. _**"Are you awake, Raphael?"**_ I heard God speak with, to my even further astonishment, genuine curiosity.

"I..." I started, my voice feeling dry and irritated from it's usage of my original voice in such a manner. "...yeah. I'm a-awake. Wh-Why am I awake?"

_ **"What do you mean?"** _

"I died. I felt...my grace it...and Lucifer he..." My mind was still hazy and I felt my head throbbing, but God carding her gentle hands through my long wavy and curly hair was slowly soothing it along with the ache my back still had.

_ **"You did die, and to everyone it will remain so until I believe the time is right to reveal that. I heard your pleas, Raphael. Every last question, and every last vow you made as you were indeed dying. What you felt in your grace was your grace changing. You're the only one who felt it, because you died in transition in becoming a demon AND you did so while still having faith and love for me where the others did not. You're falling, my sweet Raphael."** _

"F-Falling!?"

**_"Yes."_ **She sighed. _**"Falling for many reasons. Most I cannot tell you, but one of many reasons is because you have questioned me."**_

"What's...what's falling?" I asked as I looked up and it was that moment that I noticed she was crying.

_ **"Raphael. There are many things you do not know, and won't know, but know this...it brought me no pleasure felling the remaining living angels that were rebelling against me, but I couldn't watch everyone fight for a moment longer. I let you do what you did to Lucifer, because you made his ugly grace that he morphed and tainted himself...you made it into physical form, and that's how he will stay until I decide otherwise. You...I heard you, but the questions you asked...along with my other many reasons for what I'm doing to you...is why you must fall."** _

"What's falling?" I asked again after swallowing a thick lump in my throat.

_ **"It's when an angel turns into a demon. They are cut off from me. They are deformed. They know not of love, joy, happiness, or goodness, but that is because they fell without those things."** _

"S-So...why am I here...with you? I suspect that you've casted them out somewhere, since Heaven is everything you just said they no longer have."

_**"That is correct, but Raphael, I am giving you a choice. Please sit up, Raphael."**_ I did as she asked, but when I did, I noticed my wings and they were as black as the nothing that I built the universe in. I then caught a glimpse of my hair, and rather than being such a dark blue it was almost black, my hair was now scarlet red. I jumped up from my bed and straight to my mirror, and quickly noticed that I was both thinner and somehow more built. My eyes were no longer what they were. No, they now were golden with slits for pupils. I was nearly unrecognizable. _**"Raphael, I had to alter your form so that no one would recognize you. Neither Heaven nor Hell will know who you are unless you are put into a position to reveal yourself or until I decide."**_

"B-But...I'm a...fallen angel." The words hurt just saying them, and tears fell down my cheeks without my say so. I slowly turned to face her, hanging my head low in defeat as my new strange grace shimmered in my body. "What's wrong with my grace?"

_ **"It's different from everyone else's. You died with pure love in your grace. Love for me and Love for Aziraphale. You also made a vow. It was no ordinary vow either. You may not realize it, but your vow became a part of the bond you share with him. I heard it, and felt the desperation and love in it, so I decided to make you different. You are a demon, your grace tainted black, BUT...you are also still a Seraph."** _

"I was an Archangel." I groaned.

_ **"No, that was your title. Your powers and grace were that of a Seraph, just as Aziraphale's title is Principality, but his powers and grace are that of a Cherub. Your title and rank are two different things."** _

Not wanting to talk about Aziraphale at the moment I let out a defeated sigh as I sat back on the bed next to Her. "Fine...what are my choices?"

_ **"Aziraphale can forget about you, because even though you look so very different, he will still be able to sense it's you. He'll sense it with every fiber of his being and every inch of his grace. So...Aziraphale can forget about you, and you have my word that I will twist Hell discreetly into allowing you on Earth just as Aziraphale will be on Earth...and that way you can be with him, but...you will hear him ridicule you, he won't know you anymore, and he won't treat you as he once did. The other choice is that he remembers you as you were, but you will remain in Hell. You will never step foot on Earth, but you will still always know where he's at. Both choices require you to be a convincing demon, despite your capability for still being an angel."** _

"Let him forget me." I sobbed as a smile grew on my face. "I'm alive, which is more than I thought I would have, but now you're offering me a chance to still be by his side...I can protect him. I can keep Hell away from him. Earth...it's where the humans will be...I can still...if you permit me...I can still preform the roll I was meant to fulfill."

_ **"That is up to you, but Raphael...I cannot promise he will love you at all or treat you kindly ever. That is up to him in his own time if he should ever at all choose to do so. I have told all of my angels what demons are and one of the things I told them was that they lack love. For him to forget you and for you to be by his side, you will be paying a far heavier price than if you stayed in Hell, still knowing where the angel is and how he's doing at all times. You will look into the eyes of the one you lost, because you will no longer be there. He will know of the Archangel Raphael that fell in battle, but he'll never know that he loved him, that he was his Grace Bound mate, YOUR Grace Bound mate, and he'll never have known you at all."** _

"W-Will he _ever_ remember?"

_ **"Raphael...what is your choice. You must make one soon."** _

"I-I still choose for him to forget me." I swallowed down the ache my grace felt, because the thought of looking into his eyes and seeing me missing from them after so long of being with him, it ached more than the remaining pain in my back. "If it means that I can be by his side in some way...let him forget me. We'll create a new bond. Somehow."

_ **"Again, that's up to him."** _

"I-I have faith we will create a new bond."

_ **"Yes, but Raphael, you are now a demon. Shunned and hated by everyone in Heaven except me. If you wish to stay by his side, you must exercise caution, or you will be removed from Aziraphale permanently and forever. You will be completely destroyed by Holy Water as it is a new weapon I have given Heaven against demons, just as Lucifer had created Hellfire, which can completely destroy an angel. Whatever you do from now on with your choice, don't ever forget that. I leave your life as well as Aziraphale's in both your hands and his."** _

"B-But why...why make me different from the rest?"

_**"Some things you aren't meant to know until it's time to know, Raphael. Now, with that being said, you will have a new name. Your name will be Crawley."**_ I watched as she waved a hand, and an eerie staircase appeared in my room going downward. _**"Once you go, Hell will believe that you've always been there since everyone fell at once, and they will know your new name. Once you set foot in Hell, Aziraphale will forget you, but he'll not notice he forgot you."**_

"Wait! What about my ring! I gave him my ring, what will he think of his ring?"

_ **"He'll think it was a gift from me. Now, you must go."** _

"Right...farewell, God."

_ **"And none of that. You're a demon now. Demons don't have positive emotions or well wishes for others."** _

"R-Right." With that, I made my dissent into Hell, which I was soon free falling rather than walking down, but either way, it was my new beginning and I would at least get to see him again.


	3. Chapter 3

As six thousand years passed, we did create a new bond. It became an ineffable bond, and it was somehow stronger than our previous one. I couldn't believe it but it was true. It's just, he still didn't remember me. I was there with him during the first thunderstorm when he instinctively protected me from it with his wing, and he confessed that not even he knew why he would do such a thing, and that day a form of hope bursted in my twisted and unique grace.

I was there with him when God grew angry with her creation as they hurt one another and Her as well. I was there with ten children in the belly of the Ark, trying to explain to Aziraphale that I just couldn't leave them, but he smiled at me with a knowing look in one eye and confusion in the other. He said he wouldn't tell anyone, but I was to be responsible for them. He called me good, and he said that I was a mystery to him, because I'm not the same as what he's heard about demons. When the children were asleep, I was there to wipe away his tears as he wiped away mine, and we never spoke of either of our weaknesses during the time of the Ark.

I rescued him from the Library of Alexandria when he was trapped inside with four other scholars, but I couldn't save them and Aziraphale. I swooped in, nearly going into a state of panic as visions of fire, swords, wings, and blood filled my vision once more, but I quickly shook it away as I focused on my Aziraphale. When I found him, his arm was burned, but it was a human burn. I grabbed him, placing my arm underneath his legs while the other clutched around his shoulders, and I didn't care who saw, I flew into the air until we were at a barren beach. No humans meant no angels or demons. I healed him, and we spoke of the library. I listened to his mourning as I treated him, and I told him of all my evil and mischievous deeds, surprisingly gaining a multitude of laughs out of him.

I was there with him during and after Jesus' crucifixion. I stood by him silently as he cried once the crowd left. I stood there until he needed me, which was about thirty minutes into his crying. I then miracled us back to the place I was staying at and I wrapped my wings around him. I offered him wine for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised when he said that he liked it and wanted another glass. We talked about how we knew him and what we learned from him. Aziraphale learned about Jesus personally as they became fast friends, go figure, and I learned that he knew me on the spot. He knew who I used to be. I told Aziraphale that, but I left my angelic name out of it. I told him how I learned how to do carpentry from him when I wasn't tempting and how I tempted him AFTER I had learned. Jesus and I had a good laugh about it, but he did think the view I showed him was truly beautiful.

I was there when King Arthur and Merlin fought against whatever side I was on, and when King Arthur died in battle. After the battle, Aziraphale and I met in a tavern and we talked about how the battle went from our point of views, which wasn't great. I heard him go on and on about Merlin and he listened to me talk about the two women I met while I was enlisted as the black knight. Morgana and Nimueh. Strange women, but both involved with Merlin in some way. Either way, we exchanged experiences, tales of good and evil, and we both laughed at the other for the ridiculousness of it all.

I was there for Hamlet. Enough said.

I was there when he got his gluttonous self thrown into the Bastille, because he wanted some crepes. Dressed as he was, I found it remarkable that he didn't notice he was a walking talking target! I told him as such, and he just scoffed at me. I freed him and I listened about his plans for his book shop. I told him how I planned to tempt fifteen people within the week to Gluttony and Pride, and that he made the top of the list with success. He then 'accidentally' spilled wine onto my clothes, claiming that he had no idea how that happened. I have seen the angel piss drunk and still able to keep the wine in his glass still. He admitted it to being on purpose AFTER lunch and proceeded to fix my clothes.

I was there clearly when I asked him for Holy Water for insurance, and he immediately assumed I was asking for a suicide pill. Through the new bond that we created, I could feel his immense heartbreak, fear, dread, and for some reason guilt. Oh, and wrath, yeah, that was definitely there. I couldn't take seeing him the next day so I decided to take a nap.

I woke up in 1940, didn't like what I saw, so I changed it. Come 1941, and I feel that familiar harsh pull that signified that Aziraphale was in trouble, and I quickly made my way to him. He learned of my mortal name that I picked out when I woke up, and he learned that I apparently made a name for myself among the Nazis, but it wasn't what he thought. I would never. When I saved his books, my fingers brushed against his and it made my grace ache with a longing that I thought had settled throughout the millennia I've been like this, but it just increased a thousand fold in that moment, because there was a look of something in Aziraphale's eyes that I hadn't seen before, but it was associated with me and it was good and a part of it looked like a realization of some sort. What he realized I don't know, but it was good. I know that.

He gave me Holy Water. He gave me Holy Water and told me that I move too fast for him. Any slower and I'll be going back in time, which I can technically do if I want, but there are natural laws I know I have to keep in balance, and I don't know how it would affect me or Aziraphale, so time could remain balanced for now, but...he gave me Holy Water, and his eyes were so pained, so desperate, they were pleading me for something, but I didn't know what, and if i didn't know any better, I could've sworn I noticed tears just before he left my car.

In all that time...he still never remembered who I was, but that look he gave me in 1941 never quite left his face. Now, however, it was accompanied by a pained look, which confused me and caused my own grace to wisp and whine in slight unknown sorrow.

The Apocalypse arrived in the form of a baby that most certainly didn't look like his father, and I knew the human woman. She was beautiful, kind, wonderful, loving, and she knew what Satan was asking of her. By this point, Satan softened some, but only because of that woman. She was a tortured soul, but she decided to take on the torture of others. That's what caught Satan's eye, and he requested to meet her and I don't think I need to mention the rest. Anyway, Apocalypse arrived in the form of a baby, then it was the wrong baby, then Aziraphale and I helped Adam stand up to Satan, but before that, I didn't want to live anymore. I wished there was some Holy Water left so I could chug it when I couldn't feel Aziraphale's presence anymore, and I could feel it all over the damn globe! But...he was alive and Adam even separated his body from Madam Tracey!

However, now...I didn't know where that left us, because Heaven and Hell saw us together, saw us agreeing together, and they saw us side by side as if we've done so for millennia and we have. They knew now, and that wouldn't bode well for either of us. On top of that, we were against the war, we went against them, and we both lied to them repeatedly for eleven years. Well...really...we've lied to them since the Garden, but details at this point.

Once we made it to the door to my flat, I opened it without a word, allowed Aziraphale to go first, and then I closed it behind us, locking it for good measure. Not that it would help, but it eased my mind a bit. "Crowley...what are we going to do?" I heard him nearly whimper out, his tone a bundle of nerves, anxiety, worry, and fear.

"I don't know, Angel." I sighed out, my energy nearly completely spent the start of the End, the wrong boy, fighting with Aziraphale, losing him, getting him back, losing my car, meeting the Antichrist, stopping time, seeing what I had turned Lucifer into, and to my immense surprise, what I turned him into...I unwittingly placed a one sided aura binding on him, which is why I was pulled to the ground and knew he was more than just a tad unhappy, and finally, walking away from that nearly unscathed, only to know that there's worse to come for Aziraphale and I. With a wave of my hand, I miracled a coffee table, a sofa, and two comfortable chairs in my living area, which I never used. I walked to my new sofa and promptly sat down, placing my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. For a moment I didn't say anything, but then I let out a growl as I looked up at my ceiling focusing on God. "This is insult to injury, You know that!? An insult to FUCKING INJURY!"

"CROWLEY!" Aziraphale scolded in shock and astonishment, but honestly, I couldn't blame him. He had know idea what I was talking about and he likely felt the accusation as what it was, a prayer directly to God, but with a hidden message that was between only me and Her.

"What?" I spat, not meaning to, truly, but it came out regardless. "She knows what I've been through! She's put me through it! And I hadn't ONCE complained! Not in Six thousand fucking years! She knows, and now...it feels like She's..." My rage was short lived as I lowered my head, looking to the floor as if it had the remainders of what I wanted to say without actually saying it.

"You..." His breath was low, his voice nearly absent as he spoke, and I knew what the next set of words was to be. "...still have faith in her."

"Yeah." I couldn't help the wry laugh that left me.

"You...asked if perhaps She planned it like this all along...you..."

"Angel, I'm not exactly a modeled demon, but let's just focus on what we're going to do, because we have to do something. What did that paper say?"

"Choose your faces wisely, for soon you will be playing with fire...basically."

"Right, and you caught it...so that means it relates to you. Unfortunately I think that it means Hellfire for you, which would mean...Holy Water for me."

"A-Are you sure?" He asked as he slumped further into his chair. When I looked at him, I noticed how inexplicably pale he became. "H-Holy Water? They'll...Would Hell stoop so...pardon me for saying it...but so low?"

"Not for any normal crime, Angel. I'm likely to be drowned on the charges of fraternization, treachery, stopping the war, siding with an angel, and the murder of another demon via Holy Water, which is why they'll use Holy Water on me. They're not exactly creative, Angel."

"Y-Yes, but...I...I would never s-see you again."

"Nor I, you, if they burn you with Hellfire. That's why we have to figure out the choose your faces bit. I already lost you once, I can't...not again. I don't think I would be able to survive it again."

"So...I was the best friend you lost?"

I spluttered out a laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. "Angel, you're my only friend! Been that way for six thousand years!"

"That can't be true." He furrowed his brow at me, which caused me to stop laughing in order to show him how serious I was.

"I'm not joking." I took my glasses off and set them on the table to further prove my point. "Look at me, Aziraphale." Once he looked into my eyes, I noticed something interesting happen. His eyes grew wide and his breath seemed to hitch, but I was going to ignore it for now. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"N-No...you most certainly aren't. I...forgive me. I'm just...I'm terrified."

"If I were you, I'd be terrified of Hellfire too."

"Oh, that's not what I-"

Right after I said it, I remembered what Aziraphale had said hours before this moment, and I jumped up from spot, letting out an excited, relieved, grateful, and giddy laugh. "AZIRAPHALE! That's IT!"

"Wh-What's it?" He asked as he stood from his spot as well.

"If _I_ were _you!_" I let out another victorious laugh as I actually leapt into the air. "We're going to fool Heaven and Hell!" I shouted triumphantly before coming down from the ceiling, allowing my ebony wings to go back in my body. "We're going to switch places. I'll place my grace in your body and you will place yours in mine!"

"Grace? Demons don't have grace anymore. Their...their devoid of...of...of love, divinity, and..."

"And joy, and excitement, and positive emotions, but you KNOW that I'm not what you've been told. All the other demons, oh yeah, they fit it to a 'T', but not me! You know this! Come on, it'll work. We switch, practice being each other, our mannerisms, speech, walk, attitude, and even facial expressions! We can save each other and have Heaven and Hell leave us alone." I stepped closer to him with a bright smile on my face that I couldn't wipe off as I picked him up and spun him around in the living area, mentally miracling the coffee table away and as I spun him, I jubilantly said, "We'll be FREE!" I put him down with a short laugh, but it quickly died as I noticed how stunned he looked. "What's wrong?"

"I..." He shook his head, widened eyes still focused on my serpent ones. "...you've never...I've never seen you like this before. You're truly that excited to fool Heaven and Hell? Crowley...we could explode!"

"YES! I am excited! You'll live!" I shouted as if it was the most simple answer in all the universe, but to me, it really was. "And if we explode, we'll do so trying to save the other from a worse fate. It'll work though. You have to trust me. Can you do that, Aziraphale?"

I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed, showing him swallowing a likely nervous lump in his throat as he quickly nodded. "I trust you, Crowley. Completely."

With a newfound hope, I sat back down and explained how we might go about it. We discussed it for about two hours before choosing to actually start it. We grabbed our hands, focused on the other's body. Our graces passed each other, and strangely enough, they tried to hold onto one another. I suspect it's because of the whole Grace Bound mate thing, but I wasn't going to think it until I was in Aziraphale's body. Once we switched, it was strange to look at myself, but it worked. "HA! It worked!" My eyes widened as I heard Aziraphale's voice coming out of me. "Whoa...well...time to practice."

"Yes, I believe all will go well and we'll meet at the park afterwards."

"Exactly."


	4. Chapter 4

Needless to say, our swap went well, and now we were sitting at the Ritz, eating, and I was listening to Aziraphale explain in detail what it was like in Hell for him, and all I could do was be grateful he wasn't there like I was, but just as he was about to get to the rubber duck part, he stopped mid sentence, which caught my attention. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"

"Well..." He furrowed his brow at me with a mixture of emotions in his eyes while his aura was going haywire, and I could tell he was trying to suppress it. I could tell he was hiding something, which wasn't unusual, but I thought it was him hiding me from Heaven just I had done for him from Hell, but now...it was different, and it worried me a bit. "...it's just, you're always listening to me. I've...it's something I've noticed for a long time now, and well, I thought that perhaps you just didn't have anything to say, but if there's anything I've learned in the past eleven years, it's that you have quite a lot to say, and where your words don't say anything, your body language and most often your eyes say it for you. I was...I was wondering if perhaps...I've done something wrong, somehow."

"What?" I said simply as I lowered my hand that my head was rested on as my eyes widened in complete disbelief.

"Well, have I? I mean, well...I have a list of things I know I've said or done to you that were unkind and cruel, but...you've been like this for millennia. I can only name a handful of years where you were talking more than I, and with as long as we've lived, that's concerning, and I-"

"No." I shook my head, interrupting him before he could continue. "No, you've done nothing wrong. You never have."

"Oh..." He let out a sad disagreeing laugh as a look of gratefulness shone in one eye while guilt and sympathy swirled in the other. "...I do think that's up for debate. I should've never told you that I didn't like you, that we weren't friends, and that our side was over. That's just for a recent start. There's so much I've done and said that I regret. I've been...needlessly cruel to you throughout the years when you've never..." I noticed he was biting his lip as he was looking down at his food, which was my second alarm, because he's only taken four bites. "...you've never said a single cruel thing to me. I mean...you asked me how someone as clever as me could be so stupid, but you weren't being cruel. You were being desperate and hurt and I knew that. I saw that, but I...anyway, I just, I felt now was a good time to ask...why you're always listening to me when it's clear you have so much more you want to say?"

There was so much I've wanted to say to him, do with him, and experience with him since I found him on the wall once again. I wanted it to be what it once was in Heaven, but to ask for more would be foolish and self destructive. After all, I've chosen this in front of God Herself and we've somehow created a stronger bond than the one we had in Heaven, but still, I couldn't help but miss it. I remember every single day we spent with each other, and I even remember his reaction when I created the universe with God. I designed multiple nebulae trying to get it to be the right shade and color of his eyes, but I could never do it justice, but soon after that, I wanted something to represent us. I wanted something to represent the bond we had, so I created Alpha Centauri. Two different stars close up, but far away, just one star. However, I couldn't tell him any of that. I couldn't remind him, and really, he wouldn't believe me. "You've done nothing wrong, Angel."

"There, you see?" He scoffed lightly as he seemed to sink in his chair. "Just now, there was so much you wanted to say to me, but you didn't or...is it...you won't?"

"Won't, if I'm to be honest."

"But why? Don't you trust me? I mean, for someone's sake, Crowley, we just defied Heaven and Hell together and tricked them into thinking that we're invincible."

I let out a heavy sigh as I looked around for our waiter. I waved my hand, and miracled the check at our table, payed in cash, and even left a hefty tip. I then grabbed Aziraphale's hand and led him out of the Ritz. "Come on, if you want me to explain, I'm not doing it here. We're going back to your bookshop."

"A-Alright."

Once we made it inside his bookshop and into the backroom, I placed myself on the couch I usually sat at, miracling the binds to be lowered, the door locked, and I tinted the windows just slightly to where people think there's no one here at all. "Right, so, ask me anything, and I'll answer honestly. It's the least I owe you."

"Well, let's start with that." He scoffed out. "You owe me? I've done nothing but cause you trouble! Millennia of you coming to my aid, and I know I haven't any hope of ever paying that debt."

"You payed it in full every day you allowed me to be in your company." It was sappy, but it was the truth. I didn't want to be sappy, because it reminded me too much of how I was when I was with him in Heaven, and that's why I put on a new personality, but now...I would tell him a 'close to' truth. "I owe you for every time you HAVE saved my life, for every ounce of concern you ever showed for a creature like me, and now there's an unpayable debt I owe you, because you literally went to Hell and back for me. So, my honesty, no matter what you ask, is the closest thing I can come to paying it all. Now, don't mistake, this isn't JUST about paying a debt to you. It's also because apparently you've been thinking you've done something wrong, when that's not the case at all. So, ask away, but your next questions will have to be very specific."

"Alright, um...can I um...ask about your life before you fell?"

"You can ask anything, but it has to be specific." I took my glasses off and I set them on the table in front of me, listening to the echoing clatter they made as my hands started shaking slightly, but thankfully he didn't seem to notice.

"Very well, um...d-did you always look like this in Heaven?"

"No. I did not. I was changed when I was made into a demon. Many demons were changed and altered in much the same way. My eyes were the biggest change. I...I can barely remember what color they used to look like anymore, but they definitely weren't golden or yellow or even orange or red. My hair wasn't this color either. My body was shaped differently. Not by much, but in places I have muscles now, I didn't have as much and places where I don't have much muscle...I did in Heaven."

"Interesting." He breathed out in obvious awe. "Um...this may sound personal, but um...did you have a Grace Bound mate?"

"I do." I stated, which caused him to pale to an almost transparent color. His stardust eyes widening immensely.

"Y-You..._do? _A-As in...you're still bound to them?"

"Yes. However, they never fell. They're an angel still." I watched as he quickly covered his mouth with his right hand as tears began to fall from his eyes. "Aziraphale? What's wrong? Why are you crying!?"

"I...you..." He shook his head and quickly tried to compose himself, wiping his tears away and shaking his head before looking at me again. "You...you can't be with them?"

"No. I cannot."

"R-Right, um...well...do they, I mean, have you seen them since Heaven?"

"I have." I let out a shaky sigh as I looked at the coffee table, wanting to put my glasses back on, but resisted the urge to do so. "They don't remember me. They don't remember what we used to be, but I wanted them to forget me, so it's alright."

"WHAT!? Wh-Why would you want them to forget!?"

I looked up at him as my own tears started to traitorously fall down my cheeks. "I didn't fight...at first. However, I did try and stop Lucifer before the fire and the killing started. I tried to reason with him. Tried to get him to see that what he was saying and doing was wrong and it would hurt everyone. Not just those who didn't want to go with him, but well, that didn't end well. I was on the battlefield, rushing towards my Grace Bound mate, and I kept asking questions to God. Why She wouldn't just stop it, stop Lucifer, what was happening, and I just..." I shook my head as I leaned forward, the memory as clear as the day I was there, and it ached. It caused the scars on my back to burn violently, but I didn't show the amount of pain I was in. "...I just wanted to get to them. I spoke with them, and I could feel my grace changing, altering, becoming something dark, twisted, and something else. I gave them something of mine, because I didn't know what was happening to me, and I didn't know what WOULD happen, but before I could say anything more to him, Lucifer grabbed me by my wing and he...well...he tortured me...for lack of a better term, and I died. He killed me, and my Grace Bound mate watched it all happen. They watched what I did to Lucifer in return as well, which is why he looks the way he looks."

"W-Wait...so...you're the reason he looks like a monster? Not God?"

"Oh, She allowed it."

"Y-Yes, obviously, but...to do that, you would have to have incredible power...you would have to be at the top tier somewhere."

"Seraph." I answered as I felt the weight of the word creak in my bones and ache in my burned scars. "I had the power of a Seraph."

"A-A-A S-S-Seraph!?"

"Yes, a Seraph."

"WAIT! YOU DIED!? H-How are you here!? H-How are we talking!?"

"God brought me back and gave me a choice, seeing as I died with love in my grace. Love, joy, relief, protectiveness, and many other things. I died, turning into a demon, not fully one yet, and I still had love in my grace. So, she offered me a choice. I could be a demon and remain in Hell, constantly knowing where my Grace Bound mate was and never see them again and we both know and remember each other, or I become a demon, they forget they ever knew me, my name, my love, my everything that I gave to them, but I would at least be allowed to see him again, Hell permitting. They would forget me, but I would live on remembering everything I could never have again, but at least I would get to see them, and if they were in trouble, perhaps I could help them. I met them again, but they didn't know me. There was no recognition in their eyes. I was no longer there."

"S-So..." He started through his controlled sobs as the tears wouldn't stop rolling down his face, causing his eyes to shine a brighter hue as they also became red with sympathetic sorrow and rage. "...let me get this straight. Lucifer tortured you, killed you, and then God brings you back just to continue the torture!? You're brought back just to be told you're going to Hell either way!? You died with love in your heart, and you were still made a demon!?"

"Yes, but there's more to it than that, I suspect. After all, She always does have other motives for every action. She just doesn't tell anyone."

"Th-They don't remember you? A-At all?"

"No. Not at all. Why do you ask?" I questioned as I noticed the hint of confusion in his voice.

"Well...Gabriel remembers what his Grace Bound's mate's name is, but doesn't remember what she looks like. All he knows is that she became a demon, and he doesn't know her new name."

"Oh, well, I can answer that one for him." I snorted. "Her name was Beelza in Heaven, and Beelzebub in Hell. I told you, not very creative. Some of them created entirely different names, but most of them just altered their names, shortened them, or lengthened them."

"Were you and Gabriel...friends?"

"Of a sort." I grinned fondly as I remembered.

"H-Hey...I um...I've heard that angels can sometimes have more than one Grace Bound mate, was Gabriel...?"

"WHAT!? God NO! He was like a brother to me!" I couldn't help the burst of laughter that left me at the mere notion of it. "Oh my, if Gabriel from back then heard what you just said, someone help me, he would've never let you live it down! He would act as if it were true around you and only you! Oh! He was a regular trickster back in Heaven before the war." I calmed down before I continued, but a few chuckles continued to leave me. "He um...he stopped being much of a trickster once Lucifer voiced his highly unwelcome opinion, but if I were to be honest, it was probably around when I found my Grace Bound mate. I think perhaps he was a bit jealous, because it was usually just me and him when he wasn't spending his time with Beelza."

"S-So...Gabriel's Grace Bound mate is the prince of Hell?"

"Yup, and she was once a Principality. She was beautiful and kind and she could certainly out trick Gabriel on any given day."

"What rank was your Grace Bound mate?"

_'And now...he starts asking the right questions. Hmm...rank...title...their different. God said so. Rank was with power. Title was just a name.'_ I took in a deep breath and said my next words carefully. "They were a Cherub." I just hoped he didn't notice how I said I DO have a Grace Bound mate, and how I just said they WERE a Cherub.

"R-Right, um, d-do you still love them?"

My grace ached with a thudding, whining, and screaming pain as I could sense the deepest of sorrow coming from Aziraphale, but I couldn't tell why for the life of me. _'Why should that question pain him so? Unless...but no...it couldn't be...could it?'_ I narrowed my eyes at him as his eyes shone with sorrow, doubt, and fear. All expressions that don't belong on his face and never have, but the question kept nagging in the back of my mind. "Aziraphale, do you...do you love me? R-Romantically? I-I ask because, ever since I mentioned that I still have a Grace Bound mate, you've grown sadder and sadder, and now...you're in full blown sorrow."

Horror immediately struck his face as tears started to fall down his face. "I...I think you should go." He whispered out as he got up to head for his room, but I stopped him by gently grabbing his arm. He looked down at my hand, then back at me, then at my hand. He let out a breath of defeat, because one could barely call it a sigh, and he sat down once more.

"H-How long?" I asked him as I made my way back to my spot, feeling the nerves in my hand light aflame, but there was no physical fire to be seen. He began to fidget with his ring again, which had somewhat become a nervous tick.

"Crowley..." He whimpered out, trying to not look me in the eyes.

"How long?" I repeated with a growing urgency, because if he's loved me for even a century or a decade, that was wasted time I could've been spending with him. Loving him in return.

"What does it matter!?" He shouted as he stood up once again, but this time he just started to pace back and forth. "Y-You have a Grace Bound mate! I-I can't ever hope to compete with that! You and your mate are BOUND, Crowley."

_'Yes, we are, and he's currently being a frustrating mess!'_ I shook my head as I made to stand, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Please, Aziraphale. Tell me how long. I've been honest so far. Please."

His eyes widened, likely due to my saying please, but I didn't care, I wanted to know. "G-Garden...s-since the Garden. I-I just didn't REALIZE it u-until 1941."

_'Oh! That explains the look he was giving me back then!'_ As I thought that, I realized he had said an even longer date. "F-For six thousand years?" My breathing was becoming shaky as the weight of his words sunk into me. "Y-You mean, I could've been kissing you for six thousand years? At the very least seventy-eight yeas!?"

"What did you just say?" His chest was heaving up and down as the sentence came out just below a whisper and if I weren't so close to him, I'd never have heard it.

I brought my own shaky hand up to the side of his cheek, and used that moment to brush his tears away while I brought my other hand up to do the same. I gave him a nervous smile before I closed the distance between us. In Heaven, kisses on the mouth weren't invented yet. It was a human thing, and I had never done it before, but now that I felt his smooth and tear-stained lips against my own, I know that I could do this for the rest of eternity. I moved my mouth slowly the way I had seen the humans do, and was pleasantly surprised when Aziraphale started matching my movements. When his arms finally wrapped around my neck, I lowered my hands to wrap around his waist, and I could feel more tears fall in between our lips. I tightened my hold on his waist just slightly, which apparently caused him to moan lightly against my lips. The vibration of it and the sound ringing in my ears left me feeling a bit dizzy, but when he started moving one of his hands to thread my hair in his fingers, deepening the kiss, I couldn't help the gasp that left my throat. At that moment, he took the chance to delve his tongue into my mouth, leaving me nearly completely weak kneed. After about another full minute, I slowly left the kiss, panting in shock, joy, pleasure, and astonishment. "Th-That was..." There were no words. There truly weren't. It was, dare I think it, Ineffable.

"I-I would have to agree, but...what about your G-Grace Bound mate?"

I swallowed a thick lump in my throat as I pressed my forehead against his while I once again chose my words carefully. "Grace Bound mate or no...I love you." Nearly before I could blink, I felt his hands grip my jacket, and I felt my back hit a bookshelf. I opened my eyes and he was kissing me as gentle as a spring rain yet somehow as harsh as the first thunderstorm, and oh how I felt the lightning from the kiss he was giving me. I felt it surge through my entire body from my lips, to my grace, and once there, it spread everywhere else. I could hear myself moaning as I wrapped my left arm around his waist while I brought my right hand to become gracefully tangled in his cloud soft hair. Now, as good as the kiss was, I was starting to feel the bookshelf along with the books digging into my back. So, I slowly left the kiss, much to his apparent disappointment, which caused me to laugh slightly. "Aziraphale, as much as I would love to keep kissing you, your bookshelf is digging into my back." When he finally looked back up at me rather than at my chest, my eyes widened at what his eyes were showing. His pupils were blown as his eyes glimmered with love and desire. "O-Oh..." I so eloquently said.

He let go of my jacket, closed his eyes, and seemed to try and control his breathing. Once he opened them again, the desire had been calmed, but not the love. No. If anything, it seemed to increase. "What do you want to do now?"

"Honestly?" I scoffed out a laugh. "As sappy as it sounds, and if you ever bring it up, I'll deny it, but...if you have a bed, I would love nothing more than to just hold you in my arms for one night. Nothing beyond night clothes for now, because honestly, that was my first kiss, and I didn't think it could ever feel like that...but...I just want to hold you in my arms. A day ago and some hours, I thought I lost you. I thought you had been permanently destroyed in the fire that was engulfing your bookshop. So...that's what I want. Perhaps some kissing as well, but mostly...just to hold you."

He nodded his head with a brilliant smile that seemed to make the bookshop seem brighter than Heaven had ever been. I know he wanted more. That was plainly and painfully obvious by the look in his eyes just moments ago, but I couldn't. I couldn't and risk having him see what my back still looked like. Having him see that, with only one of us knowing why my scars were there, and how I died, and how I watched him watch me die, I just couldn't. Not yet.

Night fell faster than either of us expected, and soon we were both dressed in night clothes. Me in black silk pajamas, because it was the only sleeping material I didn't mind rubbing against my scars, and he, surprisingly enough, was also wearing silk. Not only that, but they matched my own. The only difference was his were white and instead of a green snake on the breast pocket, he had a pair of sky blue wings. "Aren't we quite the pair." He chuckled lightly before he slid onto the left side of the bed, underneath his large white blanket made of a material that was as smooth as satin, but it was also fuzzy. "You going to come in or are you just going to stand there?"

His words drew me out of my staring, but they also caused an amused smile to appear on my lips. "If I didn't know any better, Angel, I'd say you were trying to tempt me." I got into bed next to him, and turned on my side to face him as he was looking at me with a mischievous smirk.

"There's a difference between trying and succeeding."

I huffed out a laugh at that before I requested that he turn over. Once he did, I wrapped my arm around him, and for the first time in six thousand years, I was truly content. "I know you want more." I whispered into his hear, causing him to flinch.

"I-I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't want more, but..."

"No, don't be sorry. I'm flattered really, it's just...I have my reasons for not wanting to."

"I-Is it because of h-how I look?"

I felt a sharp pain in my grace as the question repeated itself in my mind. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. You're beautiful, Aziraphale. Belly and all. Don't you dare ever change. It's me. I'm the reason. My back...from when Lucifer killed me...it's littered with the scars he caused, and I'm sorry, but I would rather you not see them during our first time."

"Well, then why not show me now?"

"They're still tender after Satan showed up. Give them time to cool from being in such close proximity to him, alright?"

"That makes sense." He nodded as he carefully placed his hand over mine. "I'll wait as long as you want. We have time now." With that, I held him tighter, feeling a sense of relief wash over me as if I was standing under a waterfall, and I allowed myself to drift off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

A month after that, Aziraphale had come up with the idea to move out of London and to South Downs. I jumped on board immediately, because it was almost like added insurance, and that way neither of us would have to wait to see the other. So, fast forward three more months, and we were moved in to the cottage. The inside decorations and design would likely make a high end designer faint, which I couldn't stop laughing at every day I woke up for the past week in our new cottage, because it was a clash of black and white, cream and dark brown, some reds here and some light blues there. There was an entire separate outside smaller cottage on the large lot of land Aziraphale bought us, and it held all of his books. He left the bookshop, and finally sold it. Inside the cottage though, the kitchen was huge, and always stocked. Especially after he found out I could cook. The bedroom was huge and had a king sized bed with white silk sheets and a black comforter, with my pillows being white and his being black. The irony was his idea, considering our body switch, and I got to have my own little Eden surrounding the cottage.

Today was day eight of officially being moved in, and I woke up in the middle of the night, well, morning I guess, considering it was two in the morning, and Aziraphale wasn't there. In a panic, I dashed out of the house, not caring that I was still in my night clothes. Once I made it outside the front door, I nearly collapsed when I saw his silhouette at the beach. With a new wave of relief, I made my way down towards him. Once there, I stood next to him, noticing that he hadn't changed out of his nightclothes, but he at least had his house shoes on. "Is there any particular reason I got to wake up in a panic?"

"I'm sorry, my dear. I just...I couldn't sleep, or rather, I honestly feel like perhaps I've _been_ asleep since we've made it back to my bookshop after you dragged me out of the Ritz. I sometimes believe that when I said you should go, you did, and I walked up to my room, and fell asleep." He closed his eyes to feel the breeze that graced both of our faces, and though they weren't out, I could practically see him spreading his wings out so they could enjoy the breeze to.

"Why's that?" I asked as I looked out to the ocean beneath the full moon's light.

"Because, I've had this dream before." He breathed out as he opened his eyes again.

"You have?" I questioned, my tone a little higher than I wanted, but he just kept surprising me.

"Yes, but since we kissed, I've been pinching myself repeatedly, splashing cold water in my face, and I even tried dropping a book on my foot, but nothing has worked. I haven't woken up yet. I can't put our first and second kiss into words, Crowley, and that's the kind of kiss I had dreamed of when I would dream and sleep. I dreamed of a nice little house or cottage by the sea where there's little light pollution so that I could look up at the stars, and I dreamed that I could hold you in my arms and call you mine without fear. I dreamed that someday you could reciprocate my impossible feelings. I've dreamed of you being able to know how to cook and bake. I've dreamed of a small Eden out and around the cottage. I've dreamed being able to simply walk over to you, kiss you, say sweet nothings, and we could go about our day in peace. I've dreamed how your calloused hand would feel against my cheek that has suffered many tears from dreams just being dreams. I've dreamed of the sound of the wind rushing through the trees as I stand on a beach with you, no matter what time of night or day. I've dreamed of you covered in mud, dirt, soil, and water as you plant, replant, and take tender care of the plants around the cottage. I've dreamed of me being able to watch you work diligently on something that I know brings you genuine joy as I sip on my tea or hot cocoa while reading a good book. I've dreamed of simply...being with you. Being near you. Now that I have it ALL, I believe perhaps I've been asleep for a very long time, because in all honesty, Crowley, I can't see how this is anything more than just a dream. A cruel, but beautiful and wonderful dream, and when I wake up, I don't know what the date will be, or if you'll even speak to me, but I would likely push for this. However, I say that every time I have a similar conversation with you in my other dreams, but it never happens. I'm always so terrified that I'll break what we had. Our friendship, which I remember breaking horribly at the bandstand, your trust, which I know I broke when you saw how obviously I lied, and above all, just your presence. I'm terrified, Crowley." At his last sentence I saw him begin to tremble as soft tears gently slid down his face, dipping into the grooves until they dripped off his jaw. "I'm terrified, because I don't want to wake up. I'm terrified to wake up and this have been nothing more than something I desperately wanted, but never had or possibly could ever have."

"Wh-What brought all this on?" I asked, my grace aching with a pain as deep as the ocean we were standing in front of. Four months and I hadn't noticed he was suffering like this, and really, I should've known. My grace still lies in the ring, but I suppose after six thousand years, he's grown accustomed to hiding his feelings.

"I woke up about two hours ago, and you were sleeping so soundly next to me." A fond smile graced his lips as he still looked out to the ocean as we stood underneath a milky way sky. "I ran my fingers through your hair, now that you've grown it out at least to your shoulders, and you were so peaceful. So close. So calm. So...at home. Next to me of all beings. After I tucked your hair behind your ear, you smiled brighter than I had ever seen you smile in six thousand years, and you told me you love me. I've heard you say it every day for the past four months, but never like that. You said it as if it were a prayer, as if it were absolute, as if it was something you knew with all your grace, and you spoke it as if it was the most fragile and tender thing." He shook his head lightly as he let out a soft chuckle while I swallowed a thick lump in my throat, keeping quiet to allow him to continue. "Oh, Crowley, there aren't words for how much that moved me, but I can't help but still feel a thick and awful pang of jealousy from how you said it, because I could feel it. I could feel that the words weren't for me, but for your Grace Bound mate. That's the only thing keeping me from believing COMPLETELY that this is a dream, because I've never felt pain in my dreams of us before. I've never felt jealousy, longing, pain, and oh so lost. I came out here...because about ninety percent of me believes this is a dream, but the other ten percent says it's reality, telling me that you do truly love me as you have said you do for the past four months, but it also tells me that you'll never be fully mine, and I guess..." He took a shuddering breath before finally looking at me, eyes red and shimmering from his tears as the steadily fell while he gave me a false smile that didn't reach his eyes. "...I guess that's a bit selfish of me, isn't it?"

I looked up at the stars, feeling weaker than I have since my fall, and I knew what I had to do, I just hoped She didn't strike me down after we JUST survived the Apocalypse and both Heaven and Hell. "Angel, I want to show you something. Something I told you about. Do you remember me mentioning that Lucifer tortured me and killed me?"

"Y-Yes." He nodded his head as he frantically wiped away his tears.

"Take my shirt off, Aziraphale. It's only us out here, and I don't sense ANY humans, demons, or other angels for three hundred miles. I'm going to let my wings out, and I want you to look at my back. While you look, I'll tell you the story of my Grace Bound mate. I want you to know. I'm sure She'll be right pissed at me for it, but you need to know."

He gave me a confused look but stepped forward anyway as I got on my knees in the sand. He did the same just before carefully grabbing the bottom of my night shirt so that he could just as carefully and just as gently bring it over my head and off my body. I then let my wings out slowly, so as not to accidentally hit him with the force of them. I knew he saw my back when he walked moved on his knees to get behind me, and he let out a horrified gasp. "Cr-Crowley!"

I winced at his completely justified reaction. On my back there were multiple lacerations from Hell, but the other injuries were from Lucifer himself. However, I couldn't let myself get ahead of the story. "It was two hundred or so years before I was to do the first job God had tasked me with. Gabriel was rushing towards me with fresh excitement on his face, and he told me that the new Principalities arrived."

"Wait, but you said you were a Seraph..." He whispered out.

"I did, and I was. I asked for a demotion. I still hold the RANK of a Seraph, but my title...was an Archangel."

"A-An Archangel!?"

I nodded my head slowly as I felt him gently begin to groom my wings that in all honesty, needed it desperately. "I went with Gabriel to meet the new Principalities in the Garden where they were allowed to roam as much as they pleased for their first day out of the training halls. I teased Gabriel about Beelza all the way there, but once the two of them met up, I made myself scarce and started walking around the garden I loved so much and often visited. As I was looking around, I was toppled over by a Principality. He apologized, I told him not to worry about it, and eventually, after we both got up, we looked into each others eyes, and collapsed again. We both felt the bond form, and...it was Ineffable. I could describe it, but nothing I say would do the feeling justice. He's the one that admitted it first. He said that we were Grace Bound mates."

"Wh-What happened then?"

"Well, we were ecstatic. However, Gabriel then showed up, wanted to meet him, and immediately said that he didn't LOOK like a Principality. From then on, Gabriel's aura changed a bit, and I couldn't explain why. It wasn't until after I fell that I realized it was jealousy, anger, and frustration. He and I...we hadn't kissed on the lips. It wasn't a thing yet, but I often kissed the space in between his knuckles. We laughed, chased, flew, played, challenged, sparred, and well, we practically did everything together. I was one of the first ever angels, making me remarkably old, so when I never found my Grace Bound mate as Gabriel brought up the mere possibility, I scoffed it away...until I met him."

"Th-That sounds...rather romantic."

"Oh, it was." I nodded as a reminiscent yet sad smile appeared on my face, while silent treacherous tears fell from my eyes and onto the sand. "We had two hundred years of that. Mainly because Lucifer started trouble, which accelerated God's plans. Then, I was sent to do my job. I was sent to create the Universe alongside God. To breath life into light, stars, color, neutrons, electrons, protons, chemicals...to hold the very elements in my hands as I created and hung the stars, the sun, the moon, and helped Her create the many different planets and Nebulae. He watched me do it all."

"W-Wait, but...the angel that...the Archangel that d-did all of that...was...I mean...I heard that was..."

"My angelic name was Raphael. I assisted God in creating the universe, and she gave me the task of Guarding, protecting, and healing the humans when they eventually were made into being, but then...Lucifer started acting up. He never liked me anyway. So...I told you what happened after that, what I didn't tell you...Aziraphale, did you get a good long look at my scars?"

"Y-Yes, I do believe I have." I could hear the tears once again, just as I had on the day I died.

I turned to face him, bringing my wings back in as I looked him in the eyes with a sad smile, because I had a feeling this was going to end worse than an actual Apocalypse in full unstoppable swing. I looked down at his hand that still held my ring, and I choked out a sob. "D-During the battle...I rushed to him. I gave him something of mine. It was a ring. It was once on my pinky finger, marking me for the jobs I've done and will do. I gave it to him, and imbued some of my last remaining grace in it as a sort of...protection for him." I chose that moment to look up at him, and I could see that he was still a bit lost, and I could feel his grace practically sobbing, so I made it a bit clearer. "He was the Guardian of the Eastern Gate of Eden." At my word, Aziraphale's eyes widened as he quickly held up his hand to look at his ring on a now trembling hand. "I was in the middle of saying something when Lucifer yanked me down by my wing. He then proceeded to rip and tear my wings off one by one. He also left a gashing scar in the middle of my back. He then said he was going to go after my Grace Bound mate..." As I continued, Aziraphale lowered his hand slowly, his entire body shaking like a leave on a windy day as globs of tears started rolling down his face. "...when he said that, I used what remained of my power and grace, and I ripped his wings off shouting in my Seraph voice that he would not harm him. I ripped them off without mercy, setting them atop my own bloodied ones, and I transformed him into what you saw at the airfield base. I died, and I saw that my Grace Bound mate had watched everything. Gabriel had to wrench him away from flying towards me, telling him that no angel that had met Lucifer's blade had gotten up again. All I asked of God was that my grace that I imbued in the ring...I asked that She let that remain and allow me to protect him even after I've gone. When I could feel where he was, in heaven, even as I was transitioning into a demon, I knew that it worked, and I allowed myself to go peacefully and completely in love. She then gave me a choice. I told you what it was. I took it, and then..." I let out an amused yet heavy chuckle as I continued. "...I met him again as a demon, he completely forgot me, and we were once again on the Eastern Gate of Eden, and he had given away his flaming sword to Adam and Eve, because she was expecting and there were vicious animals out there."

"I..." He croaked out before hiccuping a sob. "...I'm..."

"Yes, Aziraphale." I reached forward and wiped away his tears, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. "You're my Grace Bound mate. I gladly died for you and I would do it again. For crying out loud, I went to Heaven and back for you."

"I..." He shook his head frantically, allowing his sobs to fully escape him. "...I don't remember!"

"No, you don't." I sighed out as I allowed my wings out once more while I inched closer to wrap my arms and wings around him. "However, you have six thousand years! Neither of us really belonged in Heaven, but Earth was just perfect enough for us. You fell in love with me on your own and not because of a bond, and since you didn't remember me, I got to learn a whole new you. I got to fall in love with you all over again and so differently, but trust me when I say, I'd do it all over again, because in all honesty, Aziraphale, the past six thousand years as your 'hereditary enemy', a demon, your acquaintance, your friend, and now as I am...while you were...pining for me...I believe this was all better than when we were in Heaven together. Now tell me...did any of that...any of what I said, did, and let you see...did any of that happen in your dreams?" I asked as I leaned away from him.

"N-No." He laughed out through a choked sob. "I-I can't...I'm...you're my...I'm your...oh...Crowley..." He let his wings out and immediately tackled me, causing me to hit my head against rock, but not hard enough to cause anything serious. I felt his wings touch mine as I felt him shift up slightly, his wings STILL touching mine as he said, "Oh! "I-I'm so sorry." He chuckled out as he got off me.

"It's fine, why the rush?" I echoed the rest of our first ever conversation, but apparently it was the wrong thing to say, because he instantly got the rest of the way off of me, crying out in pain as he held his head. It was short lived though. Only about two minutes, but who knew two minutes could feel like eternity!? "Are you alright!?" I asked as he started huffing out panted breaths, seemingly not in pain anymore.

He looked up at me, and he let out a giddy laugh as more tears continued to fall from his face. "I...I remember."

"You WHAT!?"

"I remember! I remember every day we had, Raphael! I remember our first meeting! I remember how we walked through the Garden and we talked! You said that you were a Seraph that asked for a demotion and I told you that I was Cherub that did the same! We both thought it a bit ironic that you were once my higher up and then we switch with our demotions making me your higher up! I remember everything we had! I...oh..." His giddiness soon turned into sorrow. "I remember...I remember watching you die."

"You...you really remember!" I quickly stood up, bringing him with me, swinging him around in the tight embrace I had him in. "Oh!" I laughed out as I allowed him to land. "Th-This still doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed our six thousand years together far more than when we were in Heaven."

"I'd have to agree with you there, my dear." He chuckled lightly before leaving my embrace. He then looked at his ring, then at me, then at his ring again. Then, to my immense surprise, he knelt down on one knee, taking his ring off as he looked up at me. "My dear, we've been through so much. Our relationship...since Heaven...since the GARDEN...it's all been so Ineffable! WE'RE Ineffable, and we've face Heaven and Hell together. I would gladly do it all over again and again and again, but right now, my grace is thrumming with love, excitement, and I know for a fact now, that this isn't a dream! However, there is one aspect I would like for one of my dreams to happen that hadn't happened yet. Former Demon Crowley, Former Archangel and Seraph Raphael, and the love of my extremely long life, I won't find another like you in the entire wonderful and beautiful universe that you created, nor do I want to. You're everything I could ever want, need, and more! Will you PLEASE marry me? I know that with being Grace Bound mates, we're still technically married no matter what, but perhaps...in the human way."

I fell to my knees instantly when he finished. My grace was thrumming so hard, so loudly, and so joyously that I was trembling, sobbing, and laughing as the realization of everything crashed over me. He has loved me for six thousand years without knowing me...US...as we were, we faced so much together, I've loved him every day since our FIRST garden, and now he remembers, and now he's proposed! Human marriage! "I-It can't...It can't be in a church." I chuckled out through my sobs, to which his joyful tears started up again as he slipped the golden ring on my left ring finger.

He then kissed the space in between my knuckles just I had done for him back then. "Of course not. We'll get married in our garden. Our mini Eden."

_**"WELL!"**_ An all too familiar voice called out, and I instantly went into protective mode as the moonlight on the water produced a silhouette of light just before it turned into God Herself, wearing what she wore the day I had walked vaguely downwards. She then started walking towards us on the ocean water until she was directly next to us. _**"It's about damn time!"**_

"Come again?" I blinked several times, her familiar friendly and amusing tone, causing me to relax and even stand to face her.

_**"You heard me, Raphael."**_ She chuckled warmly before waving her hand at me, causing my wings to erupt unwillingly from my back, and I felt my grace renew itself to what it was when I was in Heaven, and strangely enough I felt my scars disappear, being replaced by new wings. I curled them in front of me, and found three pairs of wings once more, returning to their original array of beautiful colors. _**"Your status as an Archangel and Seraph are returned to-"**_

Before she could finish the sentence, Gabriel appeared in a bolt of lightning, immediately trying to attack me. He had me pinned down onto the sand, ethereal blade in hand. "DEMON! I don't know how you did it, but you will not get away with fooling Heaven and Hell! You and Aziraphale did something, and you DARE insult Raphael's memory by pretending to wear HIS wings!?"

"ARCHANGEL GABRIEL, YOU WILL REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL! IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL FACE ME IN COMBAT AND YOU WILL LOSE!" Strangely enough, the command didn't come from God, but Aziraphale and it held both the power and promise of a Cherub and Principality. Gabriel immediately froze only to slowly look up at Aziraphale, giving a short laugh. I turned to my Principality and watched as he summoned, not a flaming sword, but a sword that was made out of all the elements. It had no blade so to speak but the elements formed the shape of one. It was a Cherub's blade. Very rare, and hardly ever seen, and he pointed it at Gabriel. "CHALLENGE ME IF YOU WISH, ARCHANGEL GABRIEL, BUT IF YOU HARM HIM IN ANYWAY OR SO MUCH AS MAKE HIM UNCOMFORTABLE, YOU WILL KNOW THE PAIN OF A THOUSAND ETERNITIES! HE IS MY GRACE BOUND MATE, AND YOU WILL NOT HARM HIM. GET. OFF. HIM. NOW!" The trees trembled in fear as they practically bowed down to him in reverence at his power, the moon dimmed to honor his holy wrath and light, and the ocean hushed at his voice, which was calm, dangerous, and it held every ounce of will, promise, determination, and complete holy wrath.

"A-Archangel Raphael? HA! He died in battle!"

"Raphael..." He flicked his eyes at me and it was then that I noticed it wasn't the moons light catching on his eyes, it was his TRUE ethereal being pouring out. "Move." I immediately did as he was asked and quickly moved to God's side, but I did so, going backwards to watch Aziraphale, because I had never seen him like this. Not even during the Apocalypse. When Gabriel stood straight once more, laughing in disbelief, Aziraphale held a hand up to him, and as he slowly lowered his open palm, Gabriel fell to his knees, looking up at Aziraphale, who then pointed his blade at Gabriel's throat. "Six thousand years, Gabriel. Six thousand years I ALLOWED you to treat me as a normal angel, because you know what? Principalities weren't allowed to roam around at the time after the war, but normal angels? Oh! You and the other Archangels didn't give a damn about them! They were just animals for you to command, and you know what, I was fine with that, because I got to be with Crowley, but I will not stand by as you harm someone I love with all my grace."

"Y-You're not a normal angel!?" He stuttered out weakly as his body shook from the power Aziraphale was giving off.

Aziraphale smirked at him, kicked him in the jaw, sending him flopping onto his back before he pointed the blade at his throat again. "My rank is a Cherub, my title is Principality! Given BOTH my positions by GOD! Yeah, we tricked you. We switched our bodies. We did a body swap. He took Hellfire for me and I took Holy Water for him, and you know what? I'm completely certain that God is fine with it!"

"Y-You think She's fine with it!? HA! You're done for now! She'll burn you! She'll burn you and drown your demon whore!"

_**"Will I, now?"**_ I had to suppress snorting out a laugh as Gabriel's face became paler than the moon. _**"I wasn't aware that you were my speaker, Gabriel. Tell me, when did I promote YOU? Get up."**_ Without another word, Aziraphale stepped back, wrath still shimmering in his eyes like a supernova while Gabriel scrambled to his feet. _**"You are alone here, Gabriel. My Cherub and Principality Aziraphale, and my Seraph and Archangel Raphael stand by me. Both outrank you severely and embarrassingly so."**_

"L-Lord, I never meant..."

_**"Save it for someone who cares to hear excuses."**_ She calmly stated as she held her palm up at him, and I couldn't help the smug grin that appeared on my face.

"B-But...that can't really be Raphael." He stuttered out.

_**"Oh? And why can't he be?"**_ She challenged with a knowing smirk. _**"I've created every single one of you and I created light, color, time, elements, chemicals, everything, so do tell, why can't he be Raphael? How would it be impossible for me to alter his appearance? How would it be impossible for me to bring him back to life after being slain by Lucifer? How would it be impossible for him to be both a demon and and angel? How would that be impossible for me?"**_

"I...I don't..."

_**"Right!"**_ She nodded her head with a higher pitched tone that exuded 'DONE', and he visibly swallowed a lump in his throat. _**"You don't have an answer, because nothing is impossible for me! Now, I will tell you this personally here and now...Aziraphale and Crowley, or rather, Aziraphale and Raphael, or whatever he wishes to be or be called, they are a part of my Ineffable plan. If they are harmed in anyway, I will take that as a personal attack, and the first culprit I will look to will be you and Michael, because don't think I don't know about her hypocrisy from when she contacted demons for over three hundred years. Aziraphale and Raphael...Aziraphale and Crowley...they are to be left alone, unharmed, unbothered, not spied upon, and not checked in on. They are to be left completely and utterly alone by everyone except me. Do I make myself clear, Gabriel?"**_

"Cr-Crystal, Lord!" He squeaked before he hurriedly left in another bolt of lightning.

_**"Now!"**_ She sighed out as I rushed back to Aziraphale's side once his wrath was tamed and his blade was gone. _**"Raphael, your status as an Archangel and Seraph are returned to you. Do with that what you wish. Create more stars if you want. Continue to go by Crowley if you so wish. Speak to me whenever you want, but for my sake...live your life to the fullest and however you like. You've more than earned it. Thank you both for stopping the Apocalypse. I'll be on my way, and I do expect an invitation to the wedding via prayer."**_

She disappeared and everything went back to it was before she showed up. "A-Aziraphale...?" I asked as I looked at him, but didn't have enough time to look into his stardust eyes as his lips crashed against mine.

I have no idea how long that wonderful kiss lasted, but once he parted, taking his tongue with him...'when did his tongue get there?' He grinned up at me and chuckled lightly. "We just received God's blessing in every way possible, my love. Should we make wedding plans?"

"Hmm..." I hummed low as I felt a thrum of loving desire flash through me. I took his chin in my hand, tilting it up slightly with a smirk on my face. "Perhaps in a couple of days. Tell me, Aziraphale, did you dream of us in bed together? Naked? Doing certain things?"

"Oh, my dear..." He chuckled low and sultry with a risen brow, causing pleasure to pool in the pit of my stomach. "...I have PLENTY of ideas."

"You always were the clever one." I grinned and allowed him to take my hand that now held a ring on my ring finger. His hand in mine caused my grace to shiver and shine in anticipation for more than just the bedroom. We just received God's blessing, and She wants to be at the wedding! We're not only Grace Bound mates anymore, we're bound by Earth, Grace, God, the stars, and more importantly to each other in every way possible. I'm bound to him and he's bound to me, and truly, this is my heaven. To be bound. To him.


End file.
